The Archive of American Television has so many amazing interviews of performers who have truly fascinating stories that you really can’t hear anywhere else. Most of the interviews are uncut and I’ve really enjoyed that.
Well on a You Tube fly around I found this great series featuring the legendary Don Pardo from 2006. They are long segments but they are amazing.
I hope you enjoy.
I had the opportunity to meet Syracuse, NY female voice over talent Lauren Synger today on her home turf and what a great voice talent she is too!
While she excels at commercial and narration work, her real passion is character voices and she is especially fond of audio books (which is really where she got her start in voice over.)
She was kind enough to introduce me to a few contacts while I tried to find some ISDN studios in the area (not an easy task) and she had some very kind words about her successes with Voices.com, run by my friends David and Stephanie Ciccarelli.
It’s always great to make a new VO pal. Thanks Lauren.
Needles and art.
I like one of those things.
But my agent and friend Erik Sheppard likes both of those things because, well, he’s a bit of a freak (not a bad quality in an agent).
You may have heard about Erik’s Don LaFontaine tattoo…well he’s at it…or guess inking it again.
But this time my shy, reticent agent (ha!) got his latest tattoo broadcast on national television (TLC).
I’m not much of a tattoo guy myself but I thought this was kinda cool…especially since it was somebody else getting drilled.
Voice Talent Beau Weaver
So my friend Caryn Clark, a professional female voice talent, told a great story on her blog via Facebook the other day.
Caryn does not have a lot of live announce experience (ala radio et all) so she has always shied away from live announcing.
Actually it seemed more like a fear.
Well lo and behold somebody picked her for a live announce with a male partner and she went for it…she did the live announce gig with about three hours prep time and it went smashingly.
While sharing this personal triumph, Beau Weaver (also a voice talent) shared a story in the comments section about a live announce that made me laugh out loud in support. Beau wrote:
“When I voiced the Critics Choice Awards on live national television, they were re-writing a tease-out-to-commercial with a sharpie on my script WHILE I was reading it…….so three hours is a luxury!”
If you’ve ever done a live announce you know how funny that is because of how true it is!
I’m not sure if everyone is getting these emails or if it’s just me but the big news in voiceover land this week seems to be that voice over talent Joe Cipriano is one of the announcers auditioning for the announcer job on Wheel of Fortune – one of the most popular game shows on the planet.
Sadly, long time Wheel announcer and true voice over legend Charlie O’Donnell died in November, 2010 and with complete respect, the show must go on – a new announcer must be hired.
So what seems to be happening is that announcers are being tested for two weeks worth of shows (according to the Cip interviews I’ve seen, the taping schedule is Thursday and Friday of every other week – each day taping 6 shows).
A big part of how the producers will decide who gets the gig is audience feedback on the Wheel of Fortune site. Smartly, Joe is talking up this “feedback” fact on shows like Westwood One’s Jim Bohannon Show and other media outlets – one set of Joe’s Wheel of Fortune show’s are airing this week.
Who are the other announcers auditioning? A quick Google search uncovered Lora Cain – a female announcer which I think is an idea long over due as I noted in a conversation following a blog post and an idea which certain female voice talents – who shall remain nameless but who has the first name Amy – thought was unrealistic.
Guess I wasn’t so silly after all.
Rich Fields I recall a while back as another candidate for the gig. And a voice talent named Jim Thornton is also in the running.
Now – I can hear you asking yourself – “Peter K. O’Connell when will you be auditioning for the announcer of Wheel of Fortune? O’Connell, O’Donnell – you’re both announcers, it makes perfect sense.”
Tell me about it! 😉
Well, I’ll check my voice mail and get back to you on that but certainly feel free to confuse the hell out of the producers and tell them in the comment section where they want their feedback how much you loved my audition.
Possibly a better idea would be to focus your votes for those folks who’ve actually been invited to audition for the job – all good and talented folks who would be a fine addition to the Wheel of Fortune cast.
But since I met and spoke with Joe for a bit at Voice 2010 in LA (which he does not remember I am sure) he’ll get my vote on this one.
For the past couple of years, I’ve been asked to serve as the announcer for the Buffalo Niagara Sales and Marketing Executives’ Elite Sales and Marketing Awards.
I’m a past President of the association.
Last year I had to travel on the show day so I pre-recorded the intros but this year I was live (or as live as I get) and here’s what it looked like announcing to a room of about 200+ of my closest friends 😉
Congrats to all the winners.
